BUTTERWORTH: The construction of the Butterworth Outer Ring Road (BORR) was supposed to help ease traffic congestion, especially at the Prai Industrial estate here.
However, lorry drivers transporting goods from the North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) and Bagan Dalam deepwater wharf claim it has failed to solve the problem.

This is because most still prefer to use the old Jalan Chain Ferry to reach the industrial estate. They do it to avoid travelling almost an extra 10km to reach the industrial area if they were to use the BORR.

The problem has been raised by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers and it is calling on the authorities to look into the problem.

FMM northern region chairman Datuk O.K. Lee said the newly-opened highway had failed to serve its purpose.
The highway project concessionaire had failed to identify the need to connect the BORR to the industrial estate, he said, and hauliers still preferred to use Jalan Chain Ferry, which connects straight to the industrial estate.

"Why should we incur extra costs by travelling extra kilometres? The highway was built to help ease traffic congestion but it is not going to be of any help because of the design," he said after visiting the 19km-long highway yesterday.

The RM700 million highway was opened to traffic on Jan 15 for a trial run.

The highway connects Jalan Baru in Prai to Bagan Dalam, Bagan Ajam and Sungai Puyu before ending at the North-South Expressway near Sungai Dua. There are three toll plazas at Prai, Sungai Nyor and Bagan Ajam.